Profit Sharing with Fruit and Vegetables 



The difficulty of keeping young people interested in farm 

 work and rural life has made me an advocate of profit- 

 sharing. After taking part in a number of experiments 

 along this line, I am firmly convinced that the principle 

 is a good one to put in force. It need not be very exten- 

 sive at first, but when boys and girls are growing up and 

 deciding on a vocation, the profit-sharing system ought 

 to be adopted, and include the whole farm. 



While the young folks are putting in about half their 

 time at school, and rendering substantial help through the 

 summer, and perhaps nights and mornings, they are apt 

 to feel the drudgery of farm life, and begin making plans 

 to get away as soon as possible. 



This is a critical period, and many parents fail to 

 bring the minds of their sons and daughters back to an 

 enjoyment of their farm home. It is usually the long 

 hours of seemingly thankless toil that cause the boys and 

 girls to dislike agriculture and rush to the cities. I con- 

 tend that profit-sharing is one of the first steps necessary 

 to remedy this great difficulty in the country. It not only 

 has the element of fairness and justice in it but it may 

 serve to stimulate interest in agricultural pursuits, and so 

 mold the entire career of a young man or woman. 



I would begin by allowing the boys and girls to have 

 a share in such things as poultry, bees, live stock and fruit 

 — most particularly fruit. For one thing, this would 

 result in the production of more and better fruit on the 

 average farm. Orchards are shamefully neglected by 

 most people who carry on general farming. The work 



64 



